We've all wondered how exactly Santa Claus manages to deliver toys to millions of children around the world in just a single night. His journey clearly defies all logic, and yet each year otherwise rational adults go to great lengths to preserve the image of Santa Claus as a chimney-diving hero for the younger folks in their lives. Now this cute new video from the Mediastation explains the scientific realities of Santa and his round-the-world mission.

We learn that Santa needs to visit 1,800 houses per second in order to deliver all of his toys, meaning he travels at 24,000 times the speed of sound. (Not that plausible, but who knows what kind of magic Santa is capable of?) One reality that is harder to explain away is the fact that by traveling so fast, the reindeer will absorb so much energy in flight that "they will burst into flame almost instantaneously." Oh, poor Rudolph! But who knows, maybe they wear some kind of flame-retardant suits that Mrs. Claus makes for them. I mean, even government agencies say he's real, so there has to be some truth to it, right?